Three days passed!
Inside the heavily guarded dical tent, ti seed to slow to a crawl.
Bai Zihan lay motionless upon the jade platform, his breathing faint but steady, surrounded by layers of protective formations and faint dicinal fragrances. His fingers twitched.
Barely perceptible.
Then-
"Argh!"
A hoarse, pained groan escaped his lips.
Pain crashed into him like a tidal wave.
It was everywhere.
In his limbs.
In his chest.
In his bones.
Even drawing a single breath felt like dragging shattered glass through his lungs.
Bai Zihan's eyelids fluttered open.
Blurry light flooded his vision.
His head throbbed violently, mories slow and fragnted, refusing to align. "Where... am I...?"
His voice was weak, dry, almost unrecognizable.
He tried to move.
Instant regret.
A sharp surge of agony ripped through his body, forcing a strained gasp from his lips as he collapsed back onto the platform.
His mind reeled.
Images surfaced one after another.
His pupils shrank.
"...Right."
He rembered now.
The clash with Mó Zūn.
Grand Elders tily arrival and his warning to Mó Zün.
And then-
Darkness.
His breathing quickened slightly as another mory surfaced.
"Feilian..."
He tried to call out instinctively.
Nothing happened.
No response.
His heart sank.
Once more, he tried.
Silence!
Bai Zihan clenched his jaw.
"...Feilian?"
Still nothing.
Guilt crept into his chest, heavier than the pain.
He rembered it clearly now.
She had poured her Soul Power into him without hesitation-All to give him a chance to escape.
A chance that nearly cost her everything.
But he refused and still insisted on fighting.
And what did he gain from it?
Nothing.
He still didn't know where Luo Qing was-or whether she was even alive.
All he got in return was nearly being killed, and Feilian exhausting her Soul
Power.
It was stupid move.
He could still feel Feilian's presence within the Soul-Confining Artifact, but seed to be resting.
That realization brought a sliver of relief-but it did nothing to ease the weight
in his heart.
Bai Zihan closed his eyes, breathing unevenly.
(Luo Qing... why was she taken?)
If it was to threaten him-or the Bai Clan-then Mó Zun would have done so
already.
She wasn't even in that encampnt.
Then what?
A coincidence?
The thought surfaced-but he rejected it imdiately.
Perhaps... but he did not believe the Demonic Cultivators would kidnap a
mortal over a Bai Clan mber.
His eyes opened slowly.
Cold resolve burned beneath the pain.
"Just you wait..."
His voice was weak, but the intent behind it was sharp.
"Whatever the reason, I'll pluck the answer from your mouth myself."
No matter what it took.
Just then-
"You're awake?!"
A familiar voice rang out.
Bai Zihan turned his head slightly.
Bai Xueqing stood at the edge of the tent, eyes widened in clear shock.
A faint smile tugged at Bai Zihan's lips despite the pain.
"What?" he asked hoarsely. "Did you think I would die?"
"You-!"
Bai Xueqing opened her mouth to retort, but the words never ca.
She stopped.
And simply stared at him.
Seconds passed.
The silence stretched-heavy and awkward.
Bai Zihan shifted slightly, then winced.
"Ahem!"
He coughed, breaking the tension.
Bai Xueqing blinked-as if waking from a trance.
"I-I'll get Father!"
She turned abruptly and rushed out of the tent.
Monts later, hurried footsteps echoed outside.
The tent flap was pulled aside.
Bai Tianheng entered first.
Behind him followed several Grand Elders.
Chu Ziyan ca as well, her eyes filled with worry-and relief.
And the dics.
"Zihan'er... you are awake."
Bai Tianheng's voice was low, but the relief in it was unmistakable.
He stepped forward at once, stopping beside him.
For a brief mont, the imposing Clan Head looked nothing like the man who commanded armies-only a father who had feared he was about to lose his son.
The dics did not waste ti.
The lead physician stepped forward, his expression solemn, and extended his spiritual sense once more.
Gentle waves of Qi swept through Bai Zihan's body as the others watched in
silence.
Ti passed.
Then the dic withdrew his hand and exhaled.
"His condition has stabilized," he announced. "His life is no longer in danger."
A subtle wave of relief rippled through the tent.
Bai Tianheng closed his eyes briefly.
"Thank heavens..."
But the dic did not relax.
He hesitated, then continued. "However-"
The air instantly grew heavy again.
"Young Master Bai must rember this clearly," the dic said, his tone grave.
"Your injuries were... unprecedented. You survived sothing that should have
killed you outright."
He looked directly at Bai Zihan.
"Most of your ridians have been destroyed beyond repair."
Silence fell!
"You may live a normal life," the dic continued slowly. "But from this point
on, you must not cultivate."
"If you attempt to circulate Qi again," he warned, "the remaining ridians will
shatter completely. Your dantian could collapse, and your life would end."
The tent was deathly still.
This was not rely an injury.
It was a verdict.
A crippled cultivator which is equivalent to being a re mortal.
Chu Ziyan's expression stiffened, her fingers tightening at her side.
Bai Tianheng turned back to his son, his gaze heavy.
They waited.
They expected anger.
Despair.
Denial.
At the very least-a strong reaction.
But Bai Zihan's expression did not change.
His face remained calm.
Almost indifferent.
It was the sa expression he wore on the battlefield.
Bai Tianheng's heart sank.
"Zihan'er," he asked carefully, his voice gentler than anyone in the tent had ever
heard it,
"did you understand what the doctor said?"
For a mont, they thought he hadn't.
Perhaps the shock had numbed him.
Perhaps the words hadn't sunk in yet. Then Bai Zihan spoke.
"Yeah, isn't it that my ridian is almost completely destroyed?"
That was all.
No bitterness.
No protest. No grief. Nothing.
The tent remained silent.
An unsettling silence.
As if the verdict ant nothing to him at all.
"Do you truly understand what that ans?"
Bai Tianheng asked.
Bai Zihan knew why his father was asking.
He wanted to reassure him-to show that this was nothing and could be easily
healed.
But then his eyes t Chu Ziyan's.
(Perhaps... this is an opportunity.)
"Isn't it simple?" Bai Zihan said calmly.
"I'm crippled!"
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